What We’re Reading: July 2023
Spencer Klavan, How to Save the West. Spencer Klavan, son of the famous writer Andrew Klavan, has produced an important but flawed book regarding the crises of…
Shakespeare in the Shadow of Theology
Shakespeare wasn’t a theologian, but he was influenced by theology. This shouldn’t be altogether controversial. A friend of mine, a professor of English Literature specializing in Shakespeare,…
The Reprehensible Peter Singer
Liberals value harm avoidance (harmlessness) and equality. Conservatives can agree that harmlessness and equality are good things, but also value loyalty, sanctity, and authority as complements. These…
The “Runaway Horse”: Leisure in Montaigne’s Political Thought
Montaigne’s Essays, a product of the writer’s own time spent in leisure, seeks to teach the contemporary reader to take a step back and reflect. As someone…
The Music of Maurice Duruflé
Maurice Duruflé (1902-1986) is a unique case in the history of music: There are few other instances of a composer being considered a significant creator despite composing…
I Saw An Old Man Smile, Enjoying a Book
I saw an old man smile, enjoying a book, And leaves died lovely deaths in autumn; A skipped rock trickled to the creek’s bottom, And a poor…
Oppenheimer’s Nihilism: Where Is Christopher Nolan?
In March of 2001, Memento was released in US theaters. The film, initially having a difficult time securing a distributor, became a financial and critical success. Memento…
Cormac McCarthy’s Coda: The Last Breath Of An Agnostic Materialist
The greatest living author in the United States passed away last month on June 13. Cormac McCarthy died of natural causes at the age of 89, having…
The Great Forgetting and the Crisis of Modernity
Many years ago, a man, who was hiking along the arduous path of life’s journey to reach the high summit behind which the sun cast its bright…
The End of History and Poetic Salvation in Christopher Nolan: Jesse Russell’s “The Political Christopher Nolan”
The end of history endures. Not just in intellectual commentary and debate, but also in cinema. And no director has been wrestling with the implications of the…
The Power of Francis Poulenc’s “Dialogues of the Carmelites”
The Metropolitan Opera’s series of High Definition (HD) broadcasts, transmitting opera performances live into movie theaters around the world, has been a bright spot on the cultural…
Address to Psychoanalysis
For Zoe Unorthodox healing art, akin more to Joseph the Egyptian’s craft of insight than to the Greek lexicon of medical wisdom, a match to archeologists’ hand-digging,…
Suburban Reactionary: An Interview with Peachy Keenan
Peachy Keenan is the author of Domestic Extremist: A Practical Guide to Winning the Culture Wars (Regnery, 2023). She is a regular contributor to The American Mind.…
Poetry of the late Tang: Jueju Quatrains of Du Mu and Li Zhong
Jueju (絕句), or ‘cut-off verses’, are the shortest form of Chinese poem. Though precursors can be found in earlier poetry, they were developed during the Tang dynasty,…
The Politics of Edmund Husserl
Charles de Gaulle once famously proclaimed that he "always had a certain idea of France." On a recent trip to that enchanting country, I had the chance…